Since September 2023, a lot of users posting on the r/SEO subreddit started noticing a big drop in traffic for their websites that previously ranked well on search engines. You may have noticed this on your own sites as well. The agreed upon culprit? Google’s Helpful Content Update (HCU).
First rolled out in August 2022, with a second roll-out in December 2022, Google’s most recent September 2023 Helpful Content Update is the one that really started to cause a stir in the SEO world, as its intent was to target content created solely for the purpose of ranking well in search engines, known as SEO-first content.
Up until now, this type of content was the bread and butter for most digital marketers and SEO agencies. This is why it is so important to stay up-to-date on Google’s algorithm changes and continue to adapt. Failing to do so could have dire consequences for your traffic, goals, and ultimately, your bottom line.
So what happened?
In an effort to improve search results for users, Google decided to focus on “original, helpful content written by people, for people, in search results.”
In short, they decided to focus on people-first content. Not content written by AI, not keyword stuffed content made solely to game the algorithm, and not content quickly churned out to meet a quota that provides little to no value. In other words, SEO-first content, the type of content that many subversive digital marketers and low quality SEO agencies tend to dish out. That is why at here at South Florida SEO, we focus on providing our clients with quality over quantity, even if it means sacrificing how many projects we can manage at once. Short term gains are never worth long-term success, and we try to work with like-minded businesses that agree.
What does the Helpful Content Update mean for you?
If your content is already helpful, created by humans, and creates value, then congratulations, you probably don’t have much to worry about. Still, it never hurts to conduct an SEO audit to see where you stand.
If you are planning a content marketing strategy for the future and hiring someone to handle it for you, it means you need to work with a reputable agency like South Florida SEO that doesn’t take shortcuts.
If you’ve already fallen victim to the update and have noticed a decrease in traffic and ranking, it is time to assess why and plan a strategy to improve. South Florida SEO can help you revise your existing pages to align with Google’s people-first goal. There is no reason to be ashamed. You thought you were doing what was best for your business, and at the time, you were. Now, you need to adapt in order to keep moving forward. We can help you do this by working to satisfy what the new algorithm wants, and by staying up-to-date on what it will want in the future.
Strategies you can take now
There are a few things you can begin doing now in order to prevent falling on the wrong side of this update or redeem yourself if you already have:
Understand E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness)
This acronym is part of Google’s Search Quality Rater Guidelines and highlights what their search algorithm considers when ranking content. Take an honest look at your website and content and ask yourself, does it convey experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness? If not, how can it? There are ways to improve how you are perceived by the algorithm (and human users), such as providing more value, demonstrating expertise in the subject matter, and enhancing trust (like creating a detailed author bio).
Read, understand, and implement best practices from Google’s Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Starter Guide
If you are serious about wanting to rank better, take the time to read and implement the best practice’s coming from the search engine itself. There is a lot of documentation available, such as Google Search Essentials, to help you get started. You can also subscribe to reputable content creators in order to stay informed.
Remember, people-first content is just one factor, albeit an important one, in determining your site’s rank. Do your images utilize ALT tags correctly? This is important for web crawlers and accessibility. Can improvements be made to speed up your site’s loading time? This effects your bandwidth, user experience, and ultimately, your search ranking. There are many small actions you can start taking today to improve your business that you might not even be aware of.
Don’t focus on taking the cheapest or easiest route to achieve your goals
This is how many people became penalized or demoted in the first place. Whether it is by hiring the wrong agency to handle your strategy or by copying and pasting content written by AI, shortcuts may work for a time, until they don’t. This is true about most things in life, and SEO is no different. Find the best team and prioritize quality to achieve your long-term goals, so that you may actually achieve them and reap the rewards.
Final thoughts
This post gives you a surface level idea as to why so many have claimed to see a decrease in traffic after the September 2023 Google Helpful Content Update, but it is encouraged that you dig deeper for yourself to fully understand what people-first content entails. Feel free to contact us here at South Florida SEO if you have further questions or want to partner with us on your content strategy. Helping you succeed is what we do for a living, and it brings us immense joy.
Did you experience any repercussions from Google’s recent Helpful Content Update or have tips on strategies that work for you? Please let us know in the comments. If you think people in your network will find this post useful, please share it with them! Don’t forget to bookmark us and check back from time to time for future relevant updates.
